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Seeking to tamp down the growing fury over his former pastor, Democrat Barack Obama denounced the Reverend Jeremiah Wright-- his pastor of the past twenty years-- in his strongest language to date, saying he was outraged by Wrights assertions about the U.S. government and race. SOUNDBITE: Barack Obama, presidential candidate, saying (English): "His comments were not only divisive and destructive but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church." Obama told reporters that Wrights comments this week do not accurately reflect the person he met 20 years ago and were disrespectful to the senator personally. SOUNDBITE: Barack Obama, presidential candidate, saying (English): 13"57:28- :48 "They certainly dont portray accurately my values and beliefs. And if Rev. Wright thinks thats political posturing, as he put it, then he doesnt know me very well. And based on his remarks yesterday, well I may not know him as well as I thought either." Wrights fiery video taped sermons first surfaced last month, touching off an uproar ahead of the Pennsylvania primary, which Hillary Clinton went on to win decisively. In a speech Monday in Washington, Wright said the criticism aimed at him and Senator Obama was really an attack on the black church . He also stood by his suggestion that the United States invented the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. SOUNDBITE: Barack Obama, presidential candidate, saying (English): 13:58:24-:01 "When he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS, when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st centuries, when he equates the United States wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses." The timing of Wrights comments came at an especially difficult time for Obama -- the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination-- with key primaries in North Carolina and Indiana less than a week away. Jon Decker, Reuters.